


Some Kind Of Curse

by jamiesonbenn



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010), Hawaii Five-O (1968)
Genre: F/M, Hawaii Five-0, Hawaii Five-0 (2010) - Freeform, Hawaii Five-O - Freeform, OC, Steve McGarrett - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-25
Updated: 2018-02-23
Packaged: 2019-02-20 03:10:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 15,358
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13137846
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jamiesonbenn/pseuds/jamiesonbenn
Summary: What if Steve McGarrett had a twin sister?Okay, so this has been on my mind for years. Ive rewritten this so many times. Way back when, I created this OC, Kristine McGarrett, Steve’s fraternal twin sister who served with him in the navy? What happens when they get offered the taskforce after their dad gets killed? I hope some people out there think the same thing as me!Enjoy.





	1. T is for Trauma

**Author's Note:**

> This should pretty much match up with the pilot. (So this takes place in 2010 at the beginning of the series) also, I imagine the actress Lauren Glazier as Kris McGarrett.  
> With all that said, hope you enjoy.

The heat of the armoured truck hits me like a brick wall as I hop inside, taking one last look at the jungle around me. I shut the door and have a seat next to Steve in the back and take a nice deep breath. 

"Alright, let's get going. We don't have a lot of time." Steve tells the driver of the truck.

The driver nods and drives off, beginning our long expedition back to the base. Steve reaches forward to Anton Hess across from us and pulls the pillowcase off his head, revealing his gross, grimy face. 

"Ah, nice to see my two-favorite people again," Anton tells us, smirking while he does so. 

"Shut up," I say flatly, giving him a stern look.

"Ooh, Commander, still sassy I see." He smirks again. 

I glare at him and ignore him, turning to Steve now, who still looks looks really upset. 

"We will come back for him Steve. I promise." I say quietly to him, patting him on his leg and promising to go back for Freddy.

"I know. He was a brother to me, though, Kris." He tells me sadly, looking me in the eyes.

"I know, Steve," I say quietly. 

We sit in silence for a little while, until our unit talks to dispatch. 

"The commanders have the prisoner and will return to base immediately." The driver says. 

Across from me, Anton Hesse wiggles his wrists in his zip ties I put on him and readjusts in his seat.

"It's funny," Hesse starts, making Steve and I look at his disgusting face. "You don't look Hawaiian." 

We both scoff. 

"You're gonna tell us everything," Steve tells him. 

"But you were born there? Weren't you?" Anton continues. 

"Every terrorist cell you and Victor helped arm, every supplier you ever worked with, all of your trafficking associates. Everyone you've ever sold weapons to." I say flatly to Anton, adding onto Steve's previous remark. 

"Chasing my brother and I around the world for five years, like a doggy lookin' for a bone. You don't think we'd do our homework on you two." Anton says in a suspicious voice. 

Before we can reply to that, Steve's satellite phone rings, so he pulls it out of his pocket. I lean over and look who is calling him. 

It's our dad.  
He knows not to call when were on a mission. 

Steve looks over at me, awfully confused. I look at him the same way.  
Something must be wrong. 

"You should get that... You don't speak to your father nearly enough." Anton calmly suggests, causing Steve and me to snap our heads up and look at Anton. 

My eyes widen a little bit, completely breaking my own rules of showing any emotion to prisoners so they can't get leverage on me.  
Too late, Anton already has a mile of leverage now. 

Steve and I both stare at Anton, then Steve answers the call. I listen in to it. 

"Dad," Steve says. 

"Hey, Champ." Dad gruffly says over the phone. 

Champ? I can say that I've never heard that nickname before out of my thirty years of being alive. 

"You alright?" Steve asks, probably sensing that something is horribly wrong too. 

Dad gulps loudly and takes a deep breath. 

"Who are these people, Steve?" Dad asks shakily. 

I feel my heart rate quicken in my chest.  
Oh god, someone has Dad.

"Now I know where you get it from. You've got a tough old man here. Steve, we both have something to lose here, so listen to me very carefully." Victor Hesse, Anton's brother begins ordering as Steve grabs a notepad and writes down 'Call HPD!' and hands it to me. 

I whip out my satellite phone and call the number that is still glued into my brain since Dad worked there my whole life. 

"Hello, Honolulu Police Department, how may I help you," I hear the familiar voice of Duke Lukela answer. 

"Duke. It's Lieutenant Commander Kris McGarrett. There is a situation at my house right now. My father is being held hostage by an unknown number of people. Wanted terrorist Victor Hesse is there. I need you to send units there to stop anything from happening." I order.

"Yes, sure thing Kris. We will deal with the situation," Duke says back. 

"Thank you," I tell him and then hang up the call. 

I then put my phone away and lean back into Steve to listen to the call. 

"I love you guys, I never said that enough. But whatever these people want Steve, Don't give it to them. Don't you give it to the-" My dad shouts, but is cut off by a loud smacking noise and a grunt, meaning he probably got pistol-whipped. 

"No more Games! I'm taking my brother now!" Victor yells. 

"I swear to god Victor, we will hunt you down and we will kill you!" Steve shouts into the phone. 

"Hey..." Anton interrupts. "Boom." He grins at us suspiciously. 

I furrow my eyebrows in confusion, but then I hear the loud whir of a helicopter flying near to us.  
A loud explosion rings out, startling everyone as the armored truck jerks to a stop. 

Steve and I look at each other in confusion, but he hangs up the phone and throws it in his pocket. The other men in the truck move out and begin to shoot at the hostiles that are trying to obviously kill us. 

I look around the truck for an escape method that won't get Anton Hesse killed in the firefight and spot the roof hatch. I stand up on my seat and open it up. I check the Ammo in my rifle, seeing that it is relatively full and climb onto the roof. Steve follows suit, dragging Anton with us. I grab my gun and begin to fire at the unknown hostiles wearing black masks. They were obviously hired by the Hesse brothers as goons to take back Anton once he got captured. I'm assuming they aren't supposed to leave anyone living since half of my unit has been shot and/or killed already. Behind me, Steve fires at one of the helicopters, trying to take it down, but the people in it soon fire back, so we all jump off the truck to avoid getting hit. I stick the landing and roll so the wind doesn't get knocked out of me. Steve and I quickly get up and try to find a safe spot to we can assure that Anton doesn't get killed, so our father won't. We run around one side of the two remaining trucks and shoot at any of the hostiles trying to take us down. We run between two trucks, then Steve stops suddenly and pulls me back behind him. We both raise our guns to one of the hostiles and are about to shoot right as one of our fellow teammates jogs in between us, oblivious to the standoff we are having. 

"Get down!" I shout at them.  
When they realize what I was saying, it was too late, and gets shot multiple times, most likely killing them.

Steve and I then shoot at the lone hostile, killing him.  
Steve looks behind him, so I look too out of curiosity and see Anton crawling furiously along the dirt to one of the fallen hostiles, taking his gun. 

"Anton!" I shout at him, trying to stop him. 

But, Anton elects to ignore me, and turns around, pointing his gun at me. 

"No! Put it down!" Steve shouts as we close in on him pointing our guns at him. 

He pulls the trigger, and we do too immediately. My bullet hits him square in the chest, as does Steve’s, but unfortunately for me, Anton’s bullet finds its way into my left shoulder, making me scream out in pain and drop my gun to clutch my arm. 

Steve runs up to Anton, muttering something, and checks his pulse. 

"Come on Anton. No, no no!" he shouts as I jog up to him, still clutching my arm. 

"Is he dead?" I ask Steve. 

Steve nods, taking a deep breath.  
We stand there and look at Anton, not really knowing what to do if Victor calls again. 

Steve’s phone rings and he answers it right away, and puts it on speaker.  
"Let me talk to Anton!" Victor says angrily. 

"My brother’s dead, isn't he?" He asks.

"Listen Victor- " I try to bullshit him, but he cuts me off almost immediately.

"Then so is your father." He says, then a gun fires right by the phone. 

"No!" We both shout. Victor ends the call. 

I feel my heart sink into my stomach and bile rise in my throat. I take a deep breath and grab my satellite phone calling Duke right away.  
"Commander. We are on route. ETA one minute. Stay on the line." He tells me.  
I stay on the phone and pace nervously.  
I hear duke get out of the car and order people around. People yell as they barge into our house.  
Duke calls out for Dad a few times and then it goes silent.  
"Kris... Steve... I... I'm so sorry." He says quietly as his voice catches in his throat a little bit.  
I open my mouth to say something, but nothing comes out. I just stand there, in shock.  
"Thanks Duke." I manage to squeeze out, then I hang up and drop my phone.

My father is dead.  
He was just killed in cold blood, right as we were on the phone. All because of us being trigger happy.  
Oh god. 

I feel someone's arm wrap around me and hug me tightly. I see that it is Steve, so I hug him tightly, sobbing into his shirt, with the thought of me never getting to see my dad again flooding my mind. I feel my good shoulder get wet from his tears too, but he is more subtle about this than I am, for sure.  
When we break from the hug, Steve looks at my shoulder. I look at it too.  
My entire T-shirt sleeve is stained red from my blood and there is a stream of it down to my finger tips, dripping onto the ground below us. My other hand is coated in blood too, along with Steve's chest, since I was leaning on him. 

"We need to get this checked out, Kris." He says quietly to me. 

I shrug. 

"I don't even care. We need to find that son of a bitch. We have to." I say flatly to him. 

"I know. But first you're getting checked out. I need you to be healthy to catch him." He says to me, now inspecting my wound. 

"Shit," he mutters as he bends down and pokes around my gunshot wound. 

"What?" I ask him, trying to look at the wound too, but it's in my blind spot. 

"I think this went into the socket." He says quietly. He takes out his pocket knife and pokes into it, making me wince. 

"Christ, Steven, take it easy!" I shout at him, now getting the wave of pain from his knife. 

"I need to see if I can even get the bullet out! Man up, you've been through worse." He replies, sounding annoyed. 

"Y'know, I really, really hate being your twin. Like every-OW!" I complain, but get stopped mid sentence due to my idiot brother still poking around my wound.

"Sorry." He says to me, now biting his lip trying to focus on getting the bullet out of me. 

He digs his knife a little deeper into my shoulder, making me grit my teeth to prevent myself from screaming in pain. 

He takes the knife out and sighs.  
"I can't get it. You're gonna have to get this checked out by a medic. We gotta get back to base." He informs me. 

I groan.  
"Really? Are you sure you can't just patch me up? You know how much I hate seeing the medic." I plead. 

"Yes. Sorry I know you hate it but this is a risky one. If it was just into the tissue I'd be fine with patching you up, but this one is too deep." He sighs. 

"I hate you. Since when were you so careful?" I ask him, curious for his answer. Whenever something happens to either of us we patch each other up and we are good to go, but today is different. 

"I don't want to lose you too. Here, let me stop the bleeding at least." He straightens up and takes off my OD bandana I put on for the mission, unties it then wraps and ties it tightly around my wound. The pressure on my wound definitely hurts, but not as much as the initial pain of getting shot did. 

Steve and I then walk towards the truck in silence, where the remainder of our team stands, talking amongst themselves. 

"Commanders, are you ready?" Our driver asks us. 

"Yes." I say. 

Steve and I then get into the truck and make our way back to base.  
When we get back to base, I get whisked away by doctors and surgeons.  
The next thing I see is a blinding light above me before everything fades to black. 

When I open my eyes again, I find myself on a plane, and on a gurney to be exact.  
I’m strapped down to it, and I have an oxygen mask on. What the hell?  
I rip off my oxygen mask and take a few deep breaths of the air in the plane. I then try to take off the straps to the gurney, but when I move my left arm even the slightest, I nearly throw up from the excruciating pain I experience. I hear my heart monitor beep at a faster rate, making me groan, since doctors and nurses hurry to my bed and refrain me from moving more.  
They try to put the oxygen mask back on me, and then put pressure on my shoulder, making me cry out in pain this time. I squeeze my eyes shut and take a few deep breaths. I hear someone calling my name repetitively, so I open my eyes and see Steve standing on my right.  
“Kris, look at me.” He tells me.  
I lock eyes with him.  
“You need to stop moving and struggling, okay?" He informs me as he puts a hand on my shoulder.  
"Whats wrong with me Steve?" I ask him, with my voice sounding as scratchy as sandpaper.  
"You got shot and nearly nicked your subclavian artery. Were flying you into Tripler back home to get proper treatment." He explains.  
"Ok." I reply.  
My eyelids then begin to get really heavy, and I lose consciousness quickly. 

When I awake once again, i find myself in a bed.  
A hospital bed to be exact.  
I look over to my bedside on my right and see an empty chair.  
Wheres Steve? He should be here?  
I sit up in my bed and rip out my IV and take off my heart monitors.  
Within seconds of me doing that, a nurse runs into my room.  
"Commander McGarrett? What are you doing?" She asks me.  
"I need to go, i need to get out of here."  
"Commander!" She shouts after me, but i ignore it and run out of the room.  
I see my brother standing in the hall, talking to a doctor.  
The doctors eyes widen.  
"Commander, you have been ordered to bed rest. You need to heal." The doctor tells me.  
"No, I need to go home." I say back to him.  
With that said, Steve turns around and looks at me. His eyes are red and there are huge bags under his eyes.  
"Kris. Listen to them." He says to me in desperation.  
I stop for a second and look at him, dead in the eyes.  
He stares me down until i sit back down on my bed and sigh.  
"Please, Commander. Stay for a few more hours, just for observation then we will release you." The nurse says.  
"Okay." I say to her.  
She then hooks me up to all of the machines again.  
Steve leans forward on his chair and rests his head on his hands.  
"Are we home?" I ask him.  
"Yeah." He says quietly and sits up, now looking at me again.  
"When is Dad's funeral?" I ask him as i close my eyes, trying to soothe the pain of my killer headache from the anesthesia im working off.  
"Tomorrow." Steve says flatly.  
"Okay." 

We sit there in a comfortable silence for a few hours, just relaxing for the first time in what seems like years. Probably because it has been years since we relaxed last, since we have been on the go non stop with the navy. 

Finally, a nurse comes in and says the magical words I've been waiting to hear.  
"Ok Commander, you're good to go. You need to come back in next week for post-op to remove the stitches, and you will need physiotherapy for the damage done to your shoulder muscles." She tells me. 

“Okay, thank you.” I say to her, smiling. She then disconnects me from all the machines I was hooked up to, and then leads me out to the front desk of the floor and gets me to sign a bunch of sheets of paper, Steve as well. 

Then, I’m finally released from that hellhole called a hospital. I book it out to the rental car the navy gave us, and hop in the passenger seat, waiting for Steve.  
He follows suit and we drive to the hotel were staying at, since our house is a little pre-occupied.  
“I need a beer.” I say to him as I sit down on my bed gently.  
“You and me both sis,” He says quietly.  
I just sigh.  
“So while you were out cold, I met with the governor.” He begins.  
“Oh yeah? What could she possibly want? It’s not like were fucking mourning or anything?” I reply, getting kind of agitated.  
“She want’s us to run a Taskforce here.” He tells me, running a hand through his hair.  
“Like police?”  
He nods.  
“Yeah, like I’m gonna drop my whole fucking life in the navy to be here, where everyone I love has either died or been sent away. Thats it.” I tell him, taking my boots off.  
“Well, maybe in a little while, it would be good. Then we could actually live.” He shrugs.  
“Steve. We stopped living at age sixteen. How in gods name would we even adjust to civilian life. We have spent half of our lives in war zones. It’s not going to be easy.” I tell him.  
He sighs.  
“Yeah, I know. But who knows, it might be nice to get away from it.” He suggests.  
“I’ll need to think about it. I don’t know if I’m ready for this.” I tell him, lying down, feeling an immense amount of pain in my sliced and diced shoulder.  
“Okay. We don’t have to make a decision. I told her no for now anyways, because we are a team, this isn’t something that one person decides. This is about both of us.” He explains.  
“Okay.” I agree with him, and try to get comfy.  
“I’m starving, so I’m gonna go get some grub. Ill grab some for you too. What do you want?” He asks me.  
“Anything, Steve, I don’t really care. Just something that’s better than MRE’s.” I sigh.  
“Alrighty. I’ll see you in a bit, just relax, watch some TV.” He assures me.  
I nod as he slips out of the hotel room. As soon as the door shuts, I turn on the TV and watch some Food Network and instantly get sleepy. I end up falling asleep within a few minutes out of pure exhaustion once again.


	2. Grumpy Beginnings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here is chapter two. enjoy!!!

I jolt awake and grab my gun from the holster, pointing it at the door, since I just heard a loud noise come from it.  
Steve walks through the door, holding up food.  
"Sorry, sorry. Didn't mean to startle you. Nice reaction time though."  
"Yeah sorry, I was expecting you to be a fucking terrorist or something." I sigh.  
"I know. I do the same." He says quietly.  
He hands me a chicken Cesar pita, and then sits down on his bed. I thank him and then eat a little bit of it, still feeling kind of woozy from all the drugs I'm on.  
When I call it quits due to my overall ill feeling, I lie back down and end up falling asleep again. 

\----

By the time I wake up it is the next day, and I'm completely alone in the hotel room again. I don't even bother calling Steve, since he's probably out doing something stupid. The only thing I remember is that Dad's funeral is this afternoon, and I need to get ready for it.  
I drag my ass out of bed and ultimately decide that I really, really need a fucking shower to get this wartime filth off of me. I pop back a few Tylenols and then head out of the room to get some Saran Wrap to protect my wound and stitches. After about fifteen minutes, I return after a successful mission (thank the lord we are staying downtown near grocery stores and what not) and wrap up my Armand part of my torso to shower.  
Showering is hard, but I've definitely had to do worse in the navy. Nothing will ever, in a million years beat the hell that I went through at BUDs. God, those were horrible months of my life.  
I crank up the water temperature to scalding hot, then stand under the hot water for the first time in months, really. I try to take my time, but in reality, I still take about three minutes.  
Damn you U.S. Navy for making me a creature of habit.  
I blow dry my hair with the shitty hairdryer and get changed into my black and white dress uniform. I decide to go for the skirt, since its hot here, and I'd rather not worry about sweating into my wound.  
Just as I'm finishing getting ready, Steve walks back into the room in his dress as well.  
"Hey," I say to him as he leans into the bathroom to check in on me.  
"How ya feeling?" He asks me softly.  
I shrug with one arm.  
"Okay I guess. I just can't believe were fucking doing this again. It seems like the only times were ever home is to go to one of our parent's funerals." I say quietly, all while trying to tie my hair into a bun.  
I try my very best to do it, but I groan and give up. Steve offers to take over.  
"Want a braid instead so it will stay for a while?" He offers.  
"please."  
When he's done, he gives me a kiss on the top of my head and wraps me in a hug. I immediately hug my twin brother back, taking a deep breath.  
"Even though mom and dad are both gone, they're both watching over us. Y'know that right?" He whispers to me.  
I nod, feeling some tears well up in my eyes. 

It's been seventeen years since mom was killed. It's been sixteen years since I've even seen my dad. And now, I'm going to his fucking funeral. I didn't even get to say I love you to him. I didn't even get to say goodbye.  
But, Dad hasn't really been there for Steve and I for seventeen years. After mom died, he shut all of his kids out. He sent our little sister Mary to live in LA with our aunt and sent Steve and I to the naval academy at age 16.  
All because he couldn't cope.  
He lost all of his family that day. 

"Don't be like dad. Don't shut me out. We're a team. I need you, Steven. You're my support system. You always have been." I say to Steve once we break apart from the hug.  
He nods.  
"Only if you won't." He replies, grinning sadly.  
I nod.  
My eyes then well up with tears, but I immediately wipe them away and walk out of the bathroom past Steve.  
"We should get going." I say, changing the subject.  
"Yeah. We have to pick up Mary at her hotel." Steve sighs, referring to our little sister.  
"Oh great." 

Mary McGarrett.  
I don't know where to start with her.  
Mary is five years younger than Steve and I, and the complete polar opposite of us.  
Mary was only ten when she was sent to LA to live with Aunt Deb, and only ten when Mom died. She didn't really understand it, but I know for a fact that it fucked her up.  
She never got to live with her family, since Steve and I spend the next half of our lives all over the world, putting our lives on the line. Mary would constantly stress about us, since we were never allowed to tell her, since it was very, very confidential information, especially when we have been working in Black Ops for seven years. Every now and then when we would get a layover or debriefing in California, we would check in on Mary and Aunt Deb, to make sure that they were okay.  
Aunt Deb was doing just fine. She is the strongest woman I know, and nothing will drag her down.  
Mary on the other hand is a constant basket case.  
In LA, she got into the drug scene to get over her stress and trauma from her absolutely miserable and non-existent family life and was only sober about fourty percent of the day. For ten years she jumped in between jobs, and still is.  
Mary cannot handle more of these horrible things in her life.  
She was not trained to block out emotions like Steve and I, so she is a complete mess.  
When we were younger, before mom died, Mary and I were pretty close, but not nearly as close as Steve and I. Mary was a girly girl, and preferred mom compared to dad, while Steve and I wanted so badly to be just like dad. We were attached to him. 

Actually, about a week before mom was killed in a car accident, we got into a huge fight.  
Mom basically said to me that she wanted me to act like a daughter and be feminine, not play football and basketball, and constantly train with Steve and our friends. She wanted a teenage daughter that she could gossip with and go shopping with.  
Of course, as a hormonal and confused teenage girl, flipped shit at mom, and stayed mad until she died.  
Then the guilt sank in. 

I think that's why dad sent us away, because he couldn't bear to see us suffer. I was basking in my own guilt, since I told mom that I hated her right before she died. Steve felt the guilt too, since I was suffering in my own mind so much that I would be up all night, tossing and turning in my room that Steve would come in and sit with me until I fell asleep.  
Dad didn't know how to help us himself, so he sent us to the Navy. That was the best way to let us push our emotions away and get over it.  
And boy, was he right.  
As mad as I was at him for sending us away, he did give Steve and I amazing careers in the navy. We have been skyrocketing in our ranks, all thanks to dad. 

Steve and I grab our caps and head out of the hotel. Steve drives us to Mary's hotel in our rental car, and we drive in complete silence until we arrive. When we do, Steve parks the car and we head up to her room number that she told Steve.  
I take off my cap and knock on the door.  
It automatically swings open, revealing Mary, wearing a nice black dress and… sunglasses? Inside?  
"Hey Mare." I smile at my baby sister.  
"Hey- oh my god what happened to you?" She asks me, looking at my arm in its sling.  
"Nothing, I'm fine." I brush her off, making her scoff.  
"Fine my ass." She mutters quietly.  
Steve then clears his throat and says hi to Mary, hugging her.  
I then follow suit, giving her a hug.  
"You ready to go?" I ask her.  
She nods.  
We then head of the hotel. As we walk to the car, Mary speaks up.  
"It's funny. The only time we all get to hangout is at family funerals. Why can't we all be normal and go get lunch or something?" She laughs.  
I chuckle.  
She is right.  
"How about this, Mare. We can grab some dinner at our favourite sushi place tonight. Kris and I have a couple of things to do work wise later, but we can meet you for dinner." Steve offers.  
"Alright. Just text me when you're ready." She agrees.  
We all then fall into a tense silence.  
I can feel all of these unpleasant emotions rise up in my chest, already dreading this funeral.  
But, the show must go on. 

I make it through the funeral with minimal tears, thanks to me taking deep breaths and biting the inside of my cheeks to keep my mouth in a straight, serious line.  
Mary got Dad's flag, since mom can't receive it. I know she won't want to keep it though, so Steve or I will probably end up with it.  
After the service, we drop Mary off at her hotel.  
As soon as Steve and I get into the car to head back to our rooms, I slam him with questions. 

"Work stuff? What the fuck is work stuff? We are here for a few days of leave then we fly right back to Korea to finish what we left there. We have no work stuff here!" I say to my idiot brother, kind of (totally) angrily.  
"It's work stuff. We need to figure out why the fuck Hesse got Dad's info and make sure we don't let him off this island. That's still our mission, Kris." He says flatly to me.  
I sigh.  
"fine. Before we do something stupid, at least let me get changed and grab my gun so I can shoot you before you do something completely ridiculous and/or illegal." I reply to him.  
He just looks over at me and grins as we drive off. 

We quickly get changed into civilian clothes when we get to the hotel, and grab our guns and Naval Intelligence ID, just in case we run unto any cops or anything. I have the feeling that Steve is going to bring us to the crime scene, aka our house, so we're bound to run into cops. 

And, boy oh boy I was right.  
Steve parks the car a block away from our house, and we walk right inside with the hidden spare key.  
Thanks for not changing anything dad.  
When we walk inside, I feel a sense of familiarity and comfort, since my childhood house has not changed one bit since we left it all those years ago.  
wow.  
I look further on into the house and see Dad's office.  
His chair was pulled out into the middle of the room. It still sits there.  
There is blood everywhere still.  
I can see the blood spatter all over the beautiful walls of our beachfront home.  
I instantly close my eyes and try to get the visual of my dad's blood spatter and brain matter out of my mind. It burns even deeper into my brain.  
"Why are we here, Steve? I've missed all of your work, I've been out of it for the last few days." I ask him.  
"Champ. Dad called me champ. Think about it. When did he ever call me that?"  
"Never."  
"Exactly. Does it sound familiar though?" He asks.  
I nod.  
"Garage." I tell him.  
I remember, Dad had a champ tool box in the garage. I never saw him use it, because he said it was vintage and too nice to ruin. I didn't believe him, but I just smiled and nodded.  
"What?"  
"His champ toolbox. He never kept tools in it. He never told us the actual function of it." I explain.  
Steve nods and beelines it to the garage, quickly escaping the horrifying scene in front of us. I follow suit. 

I close the door behind me in the garage and immediately locate the toolbox on the right side. Steve and I walk over to it. He cracks it open, revealing no tools.  
Instead of tools, there are papers, tape recorders, pictures and tapes.  
Steve and I look at each other with our brows furrowed. I open my mouth to talk, but I hear a distant bang in the house, behind us. 

Did you hear that? I sign to him in ASL. 

He nods and points to the inside of the house.  
I point behind the car, letting him know that I'm going to have his six behind it, staying hidden from the perp in our house.  
I crouch down by the trunk as Steve holds his ground.  
The door swings open and Steve whips out his gun from his holster.  
I take my gun from my holster and stay in position.  
Steve and an unknown man yell at each other. Apparently, the other man is HPD, but he sounds like he's fresh out of New York.  
They proceed to yell about ID, then it goes silent.  
Steve then pats on the car, which I'm pretty sure means than i can come up. I slowly stand up, not putting my gun down, and walk up to Steve and the cop.  
The cop is actually a tiny guy, probably like half of a foot shorter than me, in a dress shirt and tie.  
Oh yeah. This guy's totally from New York. Cops here do NOT dress like him. Nor do they style their hair as perfectly as this guys'. 

"At ease." Steve says to me.  
I put my gun away in my holster and lean on the hood of the car.  
"And you are?" The New York cop asks me.  
"Lieutenant Commander Kris McGarrett." I say, holding out my hand to shake with him.  
"Detective Danny Williams." He nods.  
"You new to the island, detective?" I ask him.  
"Why would you think that?"  
"You dress like you're a New York cop, all fancy like that. Nobody dresses like that here. Nobody cares." I explain to him.  
"Just transferred. I don't really care, i like it."  
I shrug.  
Whatever floats your boat, man. 

"Look, Commanders. I'm sorry about your father, but this is an active crime scene, you can't be here. I'm sorry but I'm gonna have to ask you guys to leave." New York cop says.  
I stand up and shrug again.  
"Doesn't look very active, but ok." Steve says flatly.  
He then grabs the champ tool box and we begin to head out of the room.  
"And leave the box or be arrested for obstruction of justice!" New York cop says angrily.  
"We came with it." Steve says in defence.  
"No you did not. I can see the dust marks right there!" New York cop says as he points to the dusty bench where the box was.  
Steve sighs dramatically.  
"Fine. Hold on." He says, and hands me the toolbox. He whips out his phone and calls someone.  
"Hi, this is Commander Steven J. McGarrett. Can I speak to governor Jameson, please. Yes, I'll hold." Steve says confidently  
He turns to look at the cop and wiggles his eyebrows in a totally cocky way.  
I roll my eyes at my foolish brother. Steve then holds up the phone to us.  
"Commander McGarrett. Hello." Governor Jameson says over the phone.  
Steve then puts the phone back up to his ear and tells the governor that we will take the job. 

I remain still and show no emotion, even though I am about two seconds away from decking my stupid ass brother.  
I do not want to stay on this god damned island any longer than I have to. Everyone I have ever loved here has died, and it reminds me of nothing but pain. Whether Steve likes it or not, I'm returning to active duty. 

Over the phone, Steve swears in to serve the governor, thanks her and then hangs up.  
"Now it's my crime scene." He grins and grabs the tool box, walking out of the room.  
The cop stands there, dumbfounded.  
"What a guy, right? Nice to meet you Detective, good luck on other cases." I say Kindly and then walk out of the room.  
"Wait!" He replies as I open the door.  
"He- he can't just fucking do that!" He says, running his hands through his hair.  
"I'd suggest calling your CO to see what the fuck is happening, detective." I tell him, and then leave the garage. 

I see Steve I at the front door about to walk out. I follow him back out to the car.  
When we get there, he puts the toolbox in the trunk.  
I get in the passenger seat and buckle in, not even saying a word to him.  
He starts the car and grins, looking over at me.  
"This is exciting right? It will be just like our team in the Navy." He says happily.  
"Just drop me off at the hotel. I'm not playing cops with you." I say sharply, looking directly into his eyes.  
"What? Why? I thought you would have wanted this?"  
"Are you fucking new? You just said to me yesterday that we are a team! You just fucking told me that one person wouldn't decide if we are going to run a team. I'm going back to the mainland. I can't stay on this murder island. This fucking place caused me so much pain. I can't live on it for the rest of my life." I shout at him.  
Steve sighs.  
"Okay."  
"I'm staying until we catch Hesse, then I'm out. I just can't stay here. You can run your Taskforce here, but I won't be there with you." I explain.  
He nods.  
We then drive in silence to the hotel. Steve drops me off and then says he will be back for dinner with Mary. I'm assuming he is going to talk to the governor about this Taskforce of his. 

I decide to watch some TV and laze around until Steve returns.  
When he does, we head out to go get dinner with Mary.  
I can tell that she senses some weird twin-tension between Steve and I, since I'm quieter than normal, but she doesn't say anything, which is nice. I don't know if I'd be able to contain my overall anger I am feeling towards Steve for taking this job without consulting me.  
Sure, he may be ready to settle down in Hawaii, but I definitely am not. There is nothing meaningful for me here, there's nothing holding me down here anymore, so what's the point?  
After dinner, we say out goodbyes to Mary for the night as we drop her off at her hotel, and then head back to ours.  
At this point, I'm still not talking a lot to Steve, because to be completely honest, I have nothing to say to him.  
We are a team, and after thirty years of constantly working together, he went against my back for something major. 

When we get to the hotel room, I immediately lie in bed.  
Steve sighs from the front of the room and looks at me, with his arms crossed.  
"If you're trying to intimidate me, Steve, it's not working." I say flatly.  
"I still don't get why you aren't welcoming to this job opportunity? We can finally expand our roots here. We can finally have a home." He explains to me, as he walks towards me and sits on the foot of my bed.  
I sit up.  
"That's the thing. I haven't had a home since we were fifteen. Neither have you. What makes you think that I want to readjust to a domestic life with no action? The navy was exhilarating. It kept my body flowing with adrenaline. It made me happy to think that I actually was doing something worthwhile in my life. Being a cop won't have that same feeling." I shrug.  
"Give it a try at least. That's all I can ask, Kris. If you don't like it, then fine, return to active duty. But I'm joining the reserves here, and I'm getting a special order from the governor for my immediate transfer. She is more than willing to do one for you too. The job is for both of us, not just me. We are a team. I need your help on this case with Hesse. We started it, and we need to finish it." He says quietly.  
I nod. 

He gently pats my leg and then wraps me in a careful hug, trying to avoid my shoulder.  
I hug him back as tight as I can.  
"I really don't want to have to break up our dynamic duo-ness, but this is something I've always really wanted to do. You know that. All I have ever wanted was to be a cop like dad. I'm finally getting that chance." He smiles at me.  
"I know." I smile back, patting my goof of a brother on the arm.  
"I'll stay for the case and see how it goes." I agree with him.  
He smiles.  
"Awesome. Okay. Want me to update you on what's going on?" He answers.  
"Sure, why not." 

He wiggles his eyebrows at me and then gets up and grabs a bunch of papers on the table and hands them to me.  
I read through the papers, most of them files on Hesse and possible accomplices, along with pictures of the crime scene.  
"Hesse should probably be looking for a way off the island. But first, Detective Williams got a lead on the gun he acquired, so were gonna go check that out tomorrow. Feel free to join." Steve tells me.  
"We?"  
"Yeah, the detective and I."  
I laugh.  
"Yeah fuckin' right, Steve. I doubt the guy who's case you stole is going to willingly help you out on this case." I tell him, and actually fight the urge to roll my eyes at him.  
"Well, I don't think he will have a choice." Steve shrugs.  
I squint and furrow my eyebrows at him.  
What in god's name could he have planned to force New York cop into this?  
Steve just grins at me from his chair, which actually causes me to roll my eyes.  
"Just… keep it legal okay? I'm really not in the mood for bailing your ass out when you're knee deep in shit, okay?" I ask him.  
He nods, still grinning of course. 

I sigh, and then dig into the files, learning everything there is to know on Hesse and his possible comrades. On the detective's case file, he explains a lead to a known arms dealer, Fred Doran. Doran could have supplied Hesse with the weapon that murdered our father, but the detective was not allowed to investigate this, since we took the case from him.  
I look up from my current file on Doran and scratch my head.  
"So, are we going to look into Doran tomorrow? Talk to him and see if we can get any intel?" I ask.  
"yeah. We're gonna recruit the detective tomorrow, and then go from there."  
I nod.  
"How many are allowed to be on this team?" I wonder out loud.  
"Governor Jameson says five. Us and three others." Steve informs me.  
I nod.  
okay, so at least if I stay, there will be more people to work with other than my idiot brother. 

 

\---- 

The next morning at eight A.M. sharp, Steve and I arrive (via taxi) at New York Cop's apartment. It looks pretty dingy, but hey, I can't judge, I've been living in tents for the last ten years of my life while serving. Of course, as soon as the driver pulls in to the parking lot, it starts absolutely pouring rain.  
Thanks Hawaii, missed you too. 

Steve pays the driver and then we both jog to shelter. From there, I follow him up the steps and stop at a frail wooden and glass door.  
"This is it." Steve tells me, and then knocks on the door.  
A few seconds later, the door swings open, revealing New York cop looking extremely unimpressed upon seeing us. 

Steve doesn't even bother to say hello. I awkwardly stand to the side and fiddle with the soaking wet case file in my hand.  
"I swung by your precinct yesterday, spoke to your captain and he said you were requesting a wire to be put on s suspect named Fred Doran. Tell me about him." He says and then just walks into the detective's apartment.  
"Please, come in," The Detective says sarcastically, of course after Steve is already a few feet into his apartment. 

I follow suit and apologize to the detective for Steve barging in.  
He closes the door behind me aggressively.  
Steve stops at the pullout couch in front of the window. On the nightstand to the left of it Is a picture of a little girl, then his gun and badge, along with a bit of pocket change. Nothing out of the ordinary.  
"This your kid?" Steve asks flatly, gesturing to the picture.  
The detective sighs.  
"Yes, that is stunning detective work!" He says with complete sarcasm, even seeking it a bit with some hand gestures as he talks.  
I clear my throat across the room from Steve, which is my universal gesture to knock it the fuck off. He needs to remember that we are not in the navy right now. The detective is not a terrorist. Be a little more human. 

"You don't actually let her uh… stay here with you do you?" Steve asks, trying to make conversation, I guess?  
I do a little gesture to kill it at him, right as the detective gets defensive.  
"What are you, nanny 911?" He replies, and then begins pacing around the apartment.  
I can feel the tension in this room right now, and I think I could cut it with my knife that's tucked in my cargo boot.  
Steve just ignores it and begins flipping through the case file.  
The detective walks towards me and smiles awkwardly. I nod back.  
"So what do you know about this guy, Doran?" Steve cuts in, causing us to both look at him.

The detective walks over to a chair on my right and sits down.  
"Oh, surely you don't need my help, right?" The detective replies, full of sarcasm again.  
"We need all the help we can get." I tell him, stopping Steve from saying anything else stupid.  
The detective sighs.  
"He's a convicted arms dealer. His MO and ballistics match up with your father's murder. I'm thinking that he supplied the weapon to Hesse as soon as he got on the island." The detective explains.  
"Well, maybe Doran knows where he is, so let's go talk to him." Steve says to him and then begins walking towards the door. I follow suit.  
"Woah! Excuse me, but are you suffering from dementia or something? This is no longer my case!" The detective argues.  
"Your captain said you were great in New Jersey and your eyes are still fresh here. You've got a fold out bed and no ring on your finger. You obviously moved here to be close to your daughter, which means all you've got between visits is your work. You obviously take pride in your job. That's what we're looking for. Let's go." Steve explains, and then reaches for the door.  
The detective cuts him off.  
"Y'know what? It's people like you that think they can do everything better and that only makes my job harder." He tells us.  
Steve shrugs.  
"You've got no choice detective. The governor gave me jurisdiction. I'm making you my partner. We're gonna get along great." Steve smirks and then opens the door.  
"Woah, woah, woah! What about her? Why do I have to be your partner!" The detective calls after him.  
"Oh, I'm hightailing it out of this hellhole after this case. He's all yours, Detective Williams." I smile, and then leave.  
He sighs and then grabs his gun, badge and keys, then follows us out of the apartment as well. 

The car ride over to Doran's house is alright. It was slightly awkward since we all had to cram into the detectives Camaro (which was beautiful, may I add), which forced us to talk. We discovered that the detective absolutely adores his daughter, and hates this island with a passion, because he prefers cities.  
Fair enough.  
When we arrive at Doran's compound, Steve and I pile out of the Camaro. The detective objects. 

"Woah! Slow down Rambo one and two, this guy is a shooter. We should wait for backup to arrive." He suggests.  
I look at him and shrug.  
"You're the backup. We will be fine." I smile at him, and then take my gun out of it's holster.

The Detective mutters something to himself, but then follows suit. The three of us get in a line, Steve in front, me in the middle and Detective Williams in the back. We are set to approach the house, just as the front door swings open. A girl and a man are screaming, and the girl aggressively walks out of the front of the house. She sees us and gasps, but before she can scream, the detective grabs her and puts his hand over her mouth to shut her up. The man calls out after her, but then it gets quiet. The lady bites Danny, causing him to scream and jump into the line of fire right as the man (definitely Doran) opens fire. Danny gets hit and thrown off the porch. Steve books it into the house and chases after Doran. I run over to the detective to see if he is okay.  
He is lying on the ground, groaning a little bit. There's a bullet Graze on his left arm. 

"Detective Williams. Are you okay?" I ask him, outstretching my good hand for him to grab so he can get up.  
He takes it and nods, thanking me.  
"We need to get Doran." He sighs.  
"Lead the way. I'll have your six this time." I tell him.  
He nods. 

Distant screams are heard, so we take off in that direction. We eventually get to a little market type thing in the complex. In the middle of it, Steve is facing us, pointing a gun to a man who is holding a woman by the neck with a gun to her head. There is yelling going on, and the man is threatening to kill the woman, making her a hostage.  
The detective raises his gun.  
"I have the shot." He says, and without hesitation pulls the trigger, shooting Doran through and through.  
I try to tell him no, but it is too late.  
There goes our lead. 

I immediately put my gun away and sprint over to Doran, trying to stop him from fleeing. I fling my bad arm out of its sling and put pressure with both hands on his wound, and check for a pulse, but there isn't one.  
"Motherfucker!" I shout out, and then get up from the ground. I kick a tire on the jeep next to me and pace around a bit, running both of my hands through my hair.  
"That was our only fucking lead!" I shout out, mostly towards the detective.  
Luckily, before he can feel most of my wrath, our backup arrives, consisting of paramedics and HPD officers. Steve and the detective go back to the car to deal with them, and I wait by Doran's body for the medics. 

When they arrive, they try to revive him, but after a few minutes, they pronounce him as dead and call the coroner.  
I then head back to Doran's house to see if there is anything in there that I can work with. When I get there, Steve and Danny are having a yelling match outside by the car, so I patiently wait for them to stop and get back to work. Ultimately, Detective Williams punches Steve in the face, which makes me laugh out loud.  
The detective then walks away, and Steve gives me a dirty look. 

I then walk over to Steve and cross my arms.  
When I do that, I feel an immense amount of pain in my left shoulder. I glance down, seeing blood soak through my grey t-shirt.  
"Goddamnit." I mutter, remembering that I have an injury. I guess the adrenaline wore off.  
Oops.  
I gently place my arm back into the sling, ignoring the throbbing pain I'm currently feeling.  
"You okay?" Steve asks me with a lot of concern on his face.  
"Just popped my stitches. Good thing the paramedics are here." I sigh.  
"You're nuts." Steve tells me as I walk towards the paramedics. 

Detective Williams is also with the paramedics, getting his bullet graze treated.  
"Hey, fancy seeing you here." He says in fake surprise to me.  
I chuckle.  
"Oh wow, she laughs!" The detective smiles.  
I smile back.  
"There's a whole lot you don't know about me, detective," I reply to him, and then wink at him.  
He chuckles.  
"Hey, enough with this detective crap. Call me Danny. You've earned my trust, you had my back, were good." He offers.  
"Thank you, Danny. Call me Kris. There's no ranks here."  
He nods.  
Once were done getting patched up, we walk back to the house where Steve is looking around inside.  
I hear him shouting out to me from there.  
I look over at Danny, and we both book it into the house. I put my hand on my gun, but do not take it out of my holster. 

When we get inside, Steve is standing by a locked closet door.  
He opens the door, revealing a girl zip-tied to a pipe, looking terrified. Steve and Danny stand there in shock, so I kneel down and tell her it's okay. She shows no sign of comprehending what I'm saying, so I switch to mandarin, since she appears to be Chinese. I tell her that it's ok and ask what her name is. She replies with her name, Chen Ching.  
I slowly build her trust and figure out that she was brought in here four days ago on a cargo ship by a human trafficker. She was separated from her family and sold off to Doran.  
I cut off the Zip-ties and get her out of the house, and hand her off to a HPD officer, all while keeping er calm and explaining what is going on.  
I then met Danny and Steve by Danny's Camaro. 

"Okay, so we gotta find this trafficker." Steve suggests.  
Danny and I nod in agreement.  
"I think I know someone who may be able to help us." Steve adds.  
"Okay. Lead the way." Danny replies.  
We all then head back to the car and pile in. Danny pulls out of the compound and Steve directs him to Pearl Harbour.  
"What's at the harbour?" I ask, leaning towards the front of the car.  
"Chin-Ho Kelly. Ran into him when I met the governor a few days back while you were passed out, Kris." Steve explains.  
"Wow, like dad's old partner Chin?" I respond in disbelief. Why would he be at Pearl Harbour if he works for HPD?  
"Okay, so what's the deal with this guy?" Danny asks, still keeping his eyes on the road.  
"Chin Ho Kelly was our father's partner on HPD when we left seventeen years ago. Dad would always say that Chin was bound to make captain in fifteen years. Instead, he is working at the Pearl Harbour gift shop. He's a great guy who has a lot of knowledge about this island. His entire family is or has been cops." Steve explains briefly.  
Okay, I remember him now. He would always come and watch Steve's football games and my Rugby games back when we were in High School.  
He was always super nice to us. Dad said nothing but good things about him, his rookie partner.  
"So, he was born to be a cop. Why in god's name isn't he still one?" Danny asks.  
"Can't say I know, Danno." Steve shrugs.  
"Okay, no. do not call me that. That is off limits for you. Only Gracie." Danny says angrily. (more annoyed actually)  
"I think it's cute." I shrug and grin mischievously.  
"Alright, both of you, enough." Danny groans.  
I chuckle and lean back into the seat and listen to Danny and Steve bicker about getting shot for the rest of the short trip to Pearl Harbour.


	3. Welcome To Hell, Kris. Enjoy The Smell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey!  
> Hope you enjoy this chapter! I made an intagram account for Kris that follows this story line, so feel free to follow for some extra little tidbits in her life!  
> Follow @kmcg_50 on instagram if you'd like to see the content!  
> Please leave a comment or kudo, i love hearing from you!!  
> Cheers!  
> -jamiesonbenn

As soon as I hop out of the car, Steve puts a hand on my shoulder.  
"Do you have another shirt? You're covered in blood, sis." He suggests.  
I sigh.  
"Nope. This is the one time I don't bring a plaid shirt as a backup."  
Danny then walks around to our side of the Camaro.  
"I have some in the trunk, they're HPD shirts, but they will do." He offers.  
"Thank you," I smile at him, then follow him to the trunk.  
He tosses me a black Honolulu Police department under armour shirt.  
Perfect.  
I take off my sling and shirt and change shirts, completely forgetting that I'm in the middle of a parking lot of one of the biggest tourist attractions in Hawaii. 

"Woah!" Danny says loudly as I rip off my shirt.  
Once I'm changed, I smile at him.  
"What, like you've never seen a bra before, Danny." I scoff at him once in in the loaner shirt.  
"I just wasn't expecting you to strip in the middle of the parking lot there, Diana Prince." He chuckles.  
"Wonder Woman?" I question him.  
"I was gonna say Superman but I figured you wouldn't like it," He shrugs.  
"Ehh, I'll take Wonder Woman. Thanks, Danno." I smile and then walk away with Steve towards the Pearl Harbour Gift Shop.  
"Are you two both deaf? What did I just say in the car?" He shouts from behind us.  
Danny eventually catches up to us, muttering something under his breath.  
"Glad to see that you're feeling a bit better, sis. You're more… sassy." Steve smiles at me.  
I roll my eyes. 

After a brisk walk, we enter the gift shop, which is completely empty, except for an employee who is leaning on the counter, looking quite bored. When he sees us though, he perks up and smiles.  
"Back so soon, brudda?" He says to Steve.  
"Yeah, we caught a lead, we need your help."  
"We?" The man asks, and then walks closer to us.  
Once he is a few feet away from us, I recognize that it is Chin Ho Kelly, our Dad's old partner from when we were kids.  
"Woah, if it isn't the Wahine herself. It's good to see you, Kris." Chin says kindly to me, outstretching his hand for me to shake.  
"Chin Ho Kelly. It's been too long my dude." I laugh, shaking his hand.  
"Life been treating you well?" He asks me.  
"As well as it can, Brudda. How's life on the island?" I shoot back.  
"Oh y'know, paradise as always," He says jokingly.  
Ain't that the truth though.  
"And who's this haole?" Chin asks, referring to Danny.  
"Detective Danny Williams." Danny introduces himself, shaking hands with Chin.  
"Aloha, Detective." Chin smiles.  
"Why don't we take a seat," Steve suggests. 

Once we're seated, we get right down to business.  
"Chin, we want you on our team. Governor Jameson gave Kris and I our own Taskforce. Her backing, no red tape." Steve explains.  
Chin sighs.  
"Steve, I already told you this, I'm the last person HPD wants to see with a badge."  
"Why?" Danny pipes up and asks.  
"They think I was taking funds from evidence."  
"And did you?" I ask.  
"What?"  
"Did you take the money?" I ask him again.  
"No. I did not." He sighs.  
"Then join us, Chin. This will be your ticket back into. Full immunity and means. Aside from HPD. We really need you and your knowledge on the island." Steve offers again.  
Chin takes a deep breath and looks at all of us.  
"Fine. I'm in." Chin agrees and lets a smile creep onto his face.  
I smile back.  
"Welcome to the team, Chin." Steve stands up and then shakes Chin's hand.  
"Thanks for considering me, tornado twins." Chin replies. 

Danny begins laughing, still in his seat.  
"Tornado twins? Oh boy." He says through the laughter.  
"You betcha, Detective. These two raised hell when they were kids. They were destructive and always causing trouble." Chin laughs.  
I shrug.  
Steve looks betrayed.  
"Steve. You can't deny it. I'm pretty sure we made dad's hairline recede like two inches, and made him go prematurely gray.." I chuckle.  
He sighs.  
"Okay, fine. You're right. Man, that feels like it was a lifetime ago." I pat him on the shoulder, and we head out of the gift shop. Chin finds his boss and quits, then we head back to the car.  
"Okay, what's the plan then?" Chin asks us once were back at the car.  
"Well we need some intel from one of your sources on a human trafficker. And, we need to set up our new home base. The governor wants to get us a place to work right away." Steve informs us all.  
"Okay. Does she have a place for us?" Danny asks.  
Steve nods.  
"I can go meet her there and get you guys all set up. I'll take a cab over." I offer.  
"Okay. I'll call the governor real quick." Steve agrees, then steps aside and calls her. 

I then lean against the passenger door of the Camaro and cross my arms.  
"So, is this all of the team?" Chin asks me, still somehow smiling.  
"Just you three. I'm not joining. Not right now." I explain.  
"I think you'd do great here. And that comes from a guy who hates noobs." Danny suggests, standing across from me.  
"Thanks Danny," I smile.  
"Not ready to leave the navy yet?" Chin asks.  
I shrug.  
"At this point I don't know. I know I'll need to head back to Minneapolis anyways for debriefs and therapy for my shoulder, so we will see where it goes from there. I don't think I'm ready to settle back down here. I think I need more time away from here." I tell them both.  
"Fair enough." Danny nods.  
"Yep. Take all the time you need. If you decide to join us down the road, I know Steve will love it." Chin says to me.  
"Yep."  
With that all said and done, Steve walks back to us.  
"Alright. Governor wants to meet you at the Ali'iolani Hale in twenty minutes. She's sending a car for you now. It will be here in five minutes." He tells me.  
"sounds good to me. Good luck sleuthing guys. Keep me in the loop." I nod at the guys and then walk towards the pier, where there are lots of cabs parked for people. I stand there for a little while until the state car arrives. It's a huge black SUV with the state insignia printed on the side in gold. As I walk up to the car, the back-window rolls down, which startles me, so out of habit, I put my hand on my gun, sliding the strap off of it.  
A blonde lady begins to talk. Governor Jameson.  
"At ease, Commander McGarrett. Hop in." She says, opening the back door.  
I slide the strap back on and get in the car.  
Once I buckle in, I take a deep breath.  
"Sorry about that governor, I'm not used to civilian life." I apologize to her.  
"It's not a problem Commander." She smiles at me.  
"So, Steve stuck you to the setup duty?" She asks, making small talk with me.  
Okay, I can do this.  
"No, I volunteered. Can't afford to get in another kerfuffle today. I popped my stitches earlier. I'd like this to heal sooner rather than later." I chuckle.  
"Fair enough." She nods.  
A comfortable silence breaks out.  
She eventually snaps it.  
"Commander, I know you are not considering it at the moment, but I really want you and your brother to run this taskforce. You know your brother is good at what he does, but according to all of your CO's, you are his conscience. I want this taskforce to be perfect, and I truly believe that with having both of you run it, it will be." She explains to me.  
I turn and look at her, analyzing the expression on her face. It looks like she is being truthful about this and feels pretty strongly about it.  
"Thank you, governor." I sigh. "I just don't know if I'm ready to transfer to the reserves full time. I know running the taskforce with Steve would be a great thing to do and it would change a lot of lives here, but I'd need a lot more time to prepare things. I need a house, a car, the essentials. I need to figure out what Steve and I are doing transfer wise, and how were going to deal with that?" I babble, kind of word vomiting all of my stressors on her.  
"We can handle all of that. You will be working for the state, so we can supply you with a house, or pay for the renovations of your father's house so you two can move in there. Cars will also be supplied to your team, since you will once again be working for the state. It works the same as Detective Williams and his car. It will be yours, but technically ours." She explains.  
"Okay, we had things like that in the navy. That makes sense." I shrug.  
Governor Jameson nods.  
At least consider it. I think this island needs the tornado twins back. You two will make it right here. Starting with catching Hesse." She smiles at me.  
I can't help but smile at the tornado twins mention.  
"I think it does too, Governor."  
"Just let me know what you are planning as soon as the case is finished." She asks me.  
"Sounds like a plan." I smile at her. 

Right after, we arrive at the new Headquarters. It is absolutely gorgeous.  
"Woah." I say as we get out of the car.  
"Woah is right. I had to do some re-arranging but meet your team's new home. Tech crews are already in there giving you the top of the line equipment and tech."  
"Including firearms and tactical equipment?" I ask like an excited little child.  
"Yes."  
"Oh, governor Jameson, you are too good to us. You're pulling out all the stops to make me stay." I chuckle.  
"Can't kill a girl for trying, right?" She grins at me.  
I can't help but laugh.  
We then head inside and walk up to the top floor. Governor Jameson stops at a big set of glass doors.  
"Welcome to your new home." She grins, then pushes open the doors. 

The new HQ is massive. There are a bunch of offices, all with huge windows and doors, illuminating the place.  
Along the sides of the room, there are a bunch of offices, all with massive windows and glass doors as well. They're gorgeous inside.  
In the middle of the room, a bunch of tech guys are installing a table-computer, along with a bunch of massive monitors on the wall in front of it.  
I can dig it.  
I keep walking into the room. In a little nook is an armoury, being stocked with tac vests, gloves, rifles, shotguns, ammo, handguns and much more.  
At the very back of the room, there are two humongous offices on either side of the room, equipped with beautiful oak desks and a couch.  
I walk into the one on the left and admire the desk. It is beautiful red oak that actually seems quite old. It is still in amazing condition though.  
I run my hand along the surface and walk behind the desk, now facing the door where the governor is standing.  
"That was your father's, you know." She tells me. 

I feel my breath hitch in my throat.  
This.  
My fathers.  
He protected the island behind this desk.  
This is what he took pride in. 

I force myself to take a deep breath, but I still feel tears well up in my eyes, just thinking about my dad, and how much he loved his job as a cop.  
How much he loved us.  
He was bad at showing it, but he sure did love my siblings and me. He loved mom too. He loved his entire family.  
I turn my back to the governor and try to regain some composure.  
I take some more deep breaths and rub the tears out of my eyes.  
I distract myself by looking up at the wall in front of me, noticing that it is quite large.  
Quite a few paintings or pictures could go up there, or maybe even one of my flags that I've obtained over the year.  
Out of comfort, I begin to rub my right arm, which is half covered in native Hawaiian tattoos. I got special permission from the elders to get this half sleeve, and it constantly reminds me of my home Hawaii, and my family. My ohana. Of course, on my left arm, I have a beautiful sailboat and anchor piece, reminding me of my second home, the U.S. Navy, along with all of my brothers and sisters there. 

As my fingers run over the familiar lines of my tattoo, when a series of thoughts flood into my head.  
Maybe I should take care of my real home now.  
Maybe it's time I step down and let other people protect my second home.  
My real home needs me.  
My real home needs Steve and I.  
My real home needs this taskforce. 

Just then, I hear the governor open the door behind me, presumably to leave.  
Fuck it.

"I'm in. I'll run your taskforce." I say to her, turning back around to face her.  
"pardon me?" She asks me, looking a little surprised.  
"I'll stay and run it with Steve. It's time I protect my home and my people." I tell her.  
She smiles ear to ear.  
"I'm glad you reconsidered commander."  
I nod.  
We shake hands.  
"Thank you for this opportunity for Steve and I, Governor. We really appreciate it." I say kindly to her.  
"Don't make me regret this, commander." She says sternly.  
"You know we won't governor."  
"good. I know you two are capable of doing it. After all, you both were commanders before you were thirty." She grins.  
I can't help but smile.  
"That we were, governor. That we were."  
"Now commander, raise your right hand." She tells me.  
I do so.  
"Now repeat after me,"  
I nod.  
"I, Kristine D. McGarrett,"  
I repeat it.  
"do solemnly swear on my honour and conscience, that I will act at all times to the best of my ability and knowledge,"  
I repeat her again.  
"in a manner befitting an officer of the law." She finishes.  
I repeat it, and then smile a little bit.  
"Congratulations, Commander. Welcome home." She smiles back at me.  
"thank you, governor." I say once again.  
"no, thank you, both of you. You're making this island safer." She replies.  
"we will do our very best." 

She nods and then opens the door once again to leave. But she stops and reaches into her purse, pulling out a bunch of keys.  
"oh, here are the keys to the office, as well as the two pickup trucks outside. Those are now yours and Steve's." She tells me, handing them over.  
I take them and thank her up and down once again. She then leaves. 

I am then left alone in my new office. I tuck the keys into my pocket and walk back to my desk.  
I could get used to this.  
Through the glass door and windows, I can see the tech guys finishing up on everything. I have a seat in my new leather office chair and put my feet up on my desk.  
Oh yeah.  
I decide to shoot Steve a text to see how it is going. 

'hey steeb. How's it coming along? New HQ fucking amazing. You three need to come and see it. It's not even my place and I want it.' I send. 

Almost immediately he replies. 

'went well. On our way back now. ETA five mins. Have another new recruit. A wahine, officer Kono Kalakaua. Chin's cousin. You will love her. The four of us will meet you at HQ.' 

'alright. I'll meet you in the parking lot. Give you the grand tour.' I reply, then haul my ass up off the comfy chair and head out of the office. 

The tech guys are finished now, and they are heading out as well. One of the guy explains that there are laptops for everyone on the team, so we are all set. I thank them and follow them out of the room. I make my way to the parking lot and pace around for a little while.  
Finally, Danny's Camaro pulls up, followed by Chin on a Harley. Steve and Danny pile out of the Camaro, as well as the new girl.  
Chin hops off and parks his bike. 

The new girl walks up to me. 

"Officer Kalakaua right? Commander Kris McGarrett. Pleased to meet you." I introduce myself and then shake her hand.  
"You as well, commander. And please, call me Kono." She smiles at me.  
"Alright Kono, call me Kris then," I grin.  
She chuckles. 

Steve then walks up to me and pats me on the back.  
"How was your hangout with the governor?" He asks.  
I shrug.  
"She nag you?" He asks.  
I roll my eyes.  
"I'll take that as a yes." He chuckles. 

I then remember the keys in my pocket and dig them out.  
"Oh, these are for you." I tell him, holding out both truck keys and the HQ set.  
His face lights up.  
"Why are there two?" He asks, only taking one set. 

Danny leans against the car and crosses his arms, looking amused. 

"You hurt my brain, Steve." Danny chirps.  
I laugh.  
Steve looks at me, face full of confusion.  
Then it clicks in. 

"You're staying?" He asks, now smiling like the god damn Cheshire cat.  
I nod.  
He automatically wraps me in a bear hug, showing me how happy he is about this.  
I pat his back and give him a one-armed hug.  
Once we part ways, I swipe the truck keys from his hand. 

"Now, since you took the job without telling me, I get dibs on the black truck," I grin.  
I establish which remote is which, and then give Steve the keys for the blue truck beside it.  
He shrugs. 

I tuck my keys back into my pocket and then turn to our team.  
"Guess you guys are stuck with both of us now," I smile.  
"Mhmm, lucky us." Danny mumbles.  
Still smiling, I turn my ear to Danny.  
"Sorry, what was that Detective Williams?" I say in a playful tone.  
"great to have you with us," he sighs.  
I laugh and pat him on the good arm.  
"thought so."  
He rolls his eyes and stands up properly.  
When he does so, I finally notice how short he actually is. I must have at least five inches on his tiny New York ass.  
Wow.  
"alright gang, let's head inside. We have lots of work to do. And offices to assign." I explain, clapping my hands together.  
"Gang? What is this, mystery incorporated?" Steve chuckles.  
I turn and glare at him. Kono just laughs from behind me. 

The five of us then make our way inside and up to the second floor, which is where our new HQ is.  
When we arrive to the second floor, I allow everyone else to go first. They all gasp and freak out over our amazing new HQ that is fit to the nines for our new team. Chin quickly discovers the computer-desk and begins fiddling with it. Danny makes his way into the second office on the left, apparently calling dibs on it and making it his own. Steve just kind of stands in the middle of the room and takes it all in. I walk up to him and put my good arm around his shoulder.  
"I can get used to this." He nods.  
"Yeah. Me too. Come on, let's go check out your new office." I smile at him.  
We then walk to the big office on the right. I drop my arm from his shoulder once we reach the doorway so we can actually fit into it, and let Steve walk in first.  
He looks impressed.  
He walks around the perimeter of the room, and then settles to take a seat in his big comfy leather chair. He runs his hands along the surface of his big wooden desk and smiles a little bit.  
"Just so you know, that was one of Dad's desks. I have his other one. It was a personal touch from the governor." I explain.  
He stops and looks at me.  
"Really?" He asks, obviously a little shocked.  
I nod.  
"Wow." He says in disbelief.  
I chuckle and take a seat on the couch.  
"I'm really glad you decided to stay, sis. I really need you here with me." He says quietly.  
"I know," I smirk.  
He rolls his eyes. 

Steve then continues to admire his office and begins to blab about how he's going to decorate it. I half-heartedly listen since I quickly lose focus on him talking about pictures.  
I think at some point he gives up and begins talking to himself.  
Eventually he stops and claps his hands together, which causes me to regain my focus.  
"Let's get working on this case, yeah? I want to head home for the night." Steve sighs.  
"Me too. I miss my bed here." 

We then head out to the main room, which is now completely empty, thanks to everyone getting set up in their offices.  
I whistle loudly and wave everyone towards the computer.  
One by one, they file in.  
"Alright, let's do a quick debrief of the day and go over what is going on tomorrow. Anyone, go ahead." I say once everyone is gathered around the table. 

Chin clears his throat and begins working on the computer.  
"Okay, so my guy got us a consultation with Sang Min. This guy is a human trafficker, mostly out of Asia. He came from China 8 years ago. He's been running the Human Trafficking business ever since." Chin explains and pulls up a picture of this guy onto the monitors.  
He has a god damn mullet. Oh my god. 

"Yeah, this guy's a piece of work. HPD has been trying to get him for years. I'm new and I even know that." Danny adds in, pointing to the picture. 

"what are we looking at in protection? I'm assuming he has muscle protecting him?" Steve asks. 

"Armed to the nines. HPD can't really find a way to get around him." Danny shrugs. 

"Hmm. They don't have two Navy SEALs though," Steve suggests. 

"Or the governors backing with no red tape. And a small arsenal." I pitch in. 

"Very true." Chin agrees. 

"Okay, so how are we going to take him down?" I ask. 

"That's where I come in boss." Kono says. 

I urge her to speak on. 

"I'm going to meet with him tomorrow. Since I'm not a cop yet, they won't recognise me." She explains. 

"So you're the bait?" I ask. 

She laughs. 

"You could say that, yes. I'm going with the story that I'm a Chinese immigrant looking to get my family in here, thanks to him." She continues. 

I nod. 

"Sang Min will take the bait. He's desperate for any type of business. Charges way too much. We also have a surveillance truck set up, which is a loaner from HPD, but we are equipped with what we need to send Kono in there safely." Steve says to me.

"No wire?" I ask. 

He nods. 

"Alright, looks like we have got ourselves an op. Good work, everyone." I smile at the team. 

"I also made you a little summary so everyone can look it over," Chin says, and then runs over to the printer, where he grabs some papers. He hands one to each of us containing more info on this op and case. 

"Nice. Thanks, Chin." Steve says, now reading the paper. 

"Alright, anything else to add?" I ask them all. 

They all shake their heads no. 

"Okay, well the rest of the night is yours. Take it easy, get ready for this op. meet back here at oh-six-hundred to get ready for the op at eight. Oh, and take a laptop if you haven't already, there's one for all of you." I explain, smiling a little bit. 

"Thanks boss." Kono says happily. 

"Call us if you need anything. I'm assuming Steve already dished out our numbers to you three." I tell them. 

They all nod.

"Alright, now get outta here, have a good night, see you all tomorrow bright and early." Steve says to everyone. 

Chin and Kono quickly split out of the office, taking their laptops with them, leaving Danny with Steve and I. 

"You guys staying at a hotel again?" Danny asks. 

I actually don't know the answer to this, so I turn and look at Steve. 

"No, the governor got cleaners for our house who actually tore up the wall and redid it, and cleaned the living shit out of the house for us, so it is officially ours." Steve tells the both of us.

I take a deep breath and nod.  
It's gonna take me a little bit to not see the blood on the walls, or to not hear the deafening gunshot, but hey, at least we will finally be home? 

Danny claps his hands together, snapping me out of my little spell of despair.  
"perfect. I'll meet you two there with beer. Any particular kind? It's on me." He grins.  
I look at Steve once again, seeking his clarification on our favourite beer. He nods.  
"Longboard, if you could please. You will love it." I smile.  
"sounds good. I'll get on that and meet you there." He says, smiling still. 

Danny then grabs his laptop and heads out of HQ, leaving Steve and I alone once again.  
As soon as the door shuts, Steve and I turn to each other.  
"So… You ready for a fresh start, sis?" He asks me, actually looking happy for the first time in a while.  
I nod.  
"Yeah, why the hell not. It's time we change it up a little." I shrug.  
"I mean, we were with the SEALs for 5 years." He suggests. 

That is true.  
We usually don't stick around for that long. We tend to split after five or six years and take on something new and different. We jumped around from the navy, naval intelligence, the military and the SEALs, all over the course of our careers in active duty. Now, I guess is time to change it up a bit.  
I guess it's our time to become cops and protect this island, rather than Navy SEALs protecting the entire country. 

Steve snaps me out of my thoughts by wrapping his arms around my shoulders.  
"Come on sis, we have some beers to drink and a house to get moved back into. The governor got it all redone for us today, all we have to do it paint it." He suggests to me, with an ear to ear grin on his face.  
I roll my eyes playfully.  
"Alright. Let's do this, bro." I smile back.  
We give each other a fist bump and grab our laptops, then head out of our new HQ. I lock up behind us, and give Steve his own key, then we head out to our trucks in the parking lot.  
I unlock mine and walk over to it, but Steve interjects.  
"Sis, you really shouldn't be driving like that," He suggests. (well, he tells me. I know when he's saying I totally shouldn't do something.)  
"We live fifteen minutes away. I wanna get my truck at home. I don't want it to be stuck here until this stupid shoulder heals." I tell him, now swinging open the door and hopping into my beautiful new baby. Steve groans loudly and walks over to my door. By the time he gets to it, I already have it closed and the windows open all the way.  
"Are you sure?" He asks me, looking pretty concerned.  
"Steve. We have done worse. I promise, I'll only do it once. The rest of the time I'll catch a ride with you." I answer, and ultimately decide to give him some puppy dog eyes, just to sell it a little more.  
He shakes his head and chuckles.  
"Fine. I'll make a pit stop at the hotel to check out and grab our stuff." He agrees.  
"Okay. Now go away, I need to experience the amazingness of my own car." I grin.  
He rolls his eyes and heads to his truck and hops in.  
After a minute or so, he drives off, leaving me alone again. 

Now I can finally admire this gorgeous truck. The seats are all black inside, made of fabric of course, and are brand new. The car has the chemical-y brand new smell that is so satisfying it makes me feel happy all the way down to my core. I look down at my radio and see that it is super high tech compared to the CB radios we had in our hummers in the Navy.  
Oh yeah. This is the shit.  
Thank you, Governor Jameson.  
After a few minutes of freaking out and touching every surface in my truck, I adjust the seat and mirrors and turn on the ignition.  
The engine purrs to life and revs loudly, showing me that this is definitely a V8 truck. Which I'll probably need.  
Oh yeah.  
I turn the radio to a classic rock station I find, buckle in and head out of the parking lot. 

The wind on my hair as I drive at a slow speed through the lot is as liberating as being broken out of a prison.  
For the first time in way too long, I feel some burdens being lifted off my shoulders for a few minutes. The breeze is almost therapeutic to me.  
I quickly get the hang of driving with one arm and pull out onto the busy streets of Honolulu. Once I make my way through the city for about ten minutes, I find myself driving along the ocean to my childhood home. I crank up the radio, which is now playing Free Fallin By Tom Petty, and take some deep breaths.  
As much as I hate to admit it, I really did miss this stupid island.  
Nothing is more rejuvenating than a drive along the coast.  
(Except maybe for a jog along it.) 

A few songs (and some horrible singing later) I arrive at my childhood house, which I guess is now mine and Steve's.  
2727 Piikoi Street.  
The McGarrett Household.  
This is where it all began. 

I slowly pull into the driveway and admire the beautiful garden out front of our ocean front house. Apparently, dad found a new hobby. There are flowers and bushes everywhere, which look absolutely stunning. I guess we better keep up with it.  
I park my truck near the garage and hop out of it, grabbing my laptop and phone along the way.  
I lock my truck and walk over to the front door. I flip up the mat at the front door and grab the spare key to unlock the door, since I don't actually have my house key anymore.  
When I unlock the front door and step in, I'm actually met with a normal looking house.  
It looks like the entire house was thoroughly cleaned, and every trace of Victor Hesse and his fucking rampage was removed from it.  
Thank you, governor Jameson.

I put my stuff down in the living room and walk around the house to see what has changed in all these years.  
Dad got a new couch set (finally). The new couches and chairs are dark brown leather, which look absolutely lovely.  
And, I see he finally bought a flat screen TV. I chuckle to myself and head into the kitchen.  
Nothing has changed at all about it.  
The cabinets are still white, the counters are still black and wow, the stove Is still ancient.  
I think Dad even kept the same coffee maker and kettle that mom bought when Steve and I were in grade eight?  
Wow. 

I avoid the study at all costs.  
I can't really fathom going in there right now. I don't know what to expect in there right now. I know that the governor hired people to tear out the wall and redo it, but I don't want to even look.  
It will remind me of that moment.  
I don't want to think about it more than I have to.  
Not for right now anyways.  
I've been trying to keep it out of my mind all day, and it has pretty much worked. 

Thankfully, before I get too carried away in these shitty memories and my fear of the god damn study, someone knocks on the door.  
I'm assuming it's Danny, armed with beers.  
I walk to the front door and open it, revealing Danny with a six-pack of beers and a pizza. 

"I come in peace!" He grins at me.  
I smile back.  
"Come on in, Detective. Welcome to the McGarrett household. Officially that is." I tell him, now letting him into the house.  
I close the door behind him and direct him to the kitchen to put the pizza and beers down in.  
He does so and then grabs a beer for both of us.  
He cracks one open and hands it to me. I immediately take a sip, tasting the comforting bitterness of Longboard beer.  
"Oh yeah, this is the shit." I groan after the sip.  
Danny chuckles.  
"When was the last time you had a cold one as good as this?" He asks me.  
I think about it for a second.  
"Way too long, detective. Way too long." I sigh, and then take another sip of the beer.  
We make some small talk for a few minutes until Steve arrives back home with all of our stuff from the hotel. He sets it on the couch for now, and the three of us head outside to our backyard. 

Our 'backyard' is actually the ocean.  
Our house is a beachfront home.  
This is why I loved our house, I actually just forgot that until right about now.  
Steve and Danny grab some chairs for us and we sit at the shore, munching on pizza and sipping on beers. We discuss the case a little more and talk about what we need to do for tomorrow's OP involving Kono and Sang Min.  
If this is what working on the governor's taskforce is gonna be like, then I think I might actually enjoy myself here.  
Time will tell though, time will tell.


End file.
